Death via Zoom: Several in Indonesia given capital punishment via virtual hearings
Jail
Several prisoners in Indonesia have been sentenced to death over Zoom and other video apps during the coronavirus pandemic.
The country resorted to virtual court hearings amid COVID-19 restrictions that closed most in-person trials, including murder and drug trafficking cases, in which the death penalty can be given.
Nearly 100 inmates since early last year have been condemned to death in Indonesia, according to Amnesty International.
Indonesia has some of the world's strictest laws on drugs in which both Indonesian and foreign traffickers have been executed, reports news agency AFP.
Three Iranians and a Pakistani were amongst the 13 people who through video hearing were told that they would be shot to death for smuggling 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of methamphetamine into Indonesia.
A Jakarta court on Wednesday gave a death sentence to six Islamist militants via a video app for their involvement in a prison riot in 2018 that killed five personnel of Indonesia's counter-terror squad.
Indonesia went ahead with the virtual hearings despite the number of death sentences reduced last year globally due to the pandemic, Amnesty, in its annual capital punishment report, said this week.
Critics argue that virtual hearings do not give the accused a fair chance to defend themselves due to poor internet connections, a problem that even Indonesia faces.
"Virtual platforms... can expose the defendant to significant violations of their fair trial rights and impinge on the quality of the defence," NGO Harm Reduction International in a recent report on the death penalty for drug crimes said.